Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students
Mood and optimism have been demonstrated to influence risk-taking decisions; however, the literature on mood, optimism, and decision-making is mixed and conducted primarily with western samples. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the impact of mood and dispositional...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.781609/full |
| _version_ | 1818954861966786560 |
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| author | Jiao Wang Jiao Wang Ruifeng Cui Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino Edmund Fantino Xiaoming Liu |
| author_facet | Jiao Wang Jiao Wang Ruifeng Cui Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino Edmund Fantino Xiaoming Liu |
| author_sort | Jiao Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mood and optimism have been demonstrated to influence risk-taking decisions; however, the literature on mood, optimism, and decision-making is mixed and conducted primarily with western samples. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the impact of mood and dispositional optimism on risk-taking and whether these associations differed between undergraduate students from the United States (N = 141) and the People’s Republic of China (N = 90). Both samples completed a dispositional optimism questionnaire and an autobiographical mood induction task. They were then tasked with choosing to complete the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices reasoning task on easy, medium, or hard difficulty for hypothetical money. Selecting harder difficulties was interpreted as more risk-taking due to a higher chance of failure. More positive mood and higher dispositional optimism were associated with decreased risk-taking, i.e., selecting easier puzzle difficulties, in the American sample but increased risk-taking decisions, i.e., selecting harder difficulties, in the Chinese sample (p < 0.05 for all). These findings suggest that the effect of mood and optimism on decision-making may differ by nationality and/or culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T10:28:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e95fde79a1e4b32a237d23471c02dcb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T10:28:54Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e95fde79a1e4b32a237d23471c02dcb2022-12-21T19:43:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-01-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.781609781609Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College StudentsJiao Wang0Jiao Wang1Ruifeng Cui2Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino3Edmund Fantino4Xiaoming Liu5Center for Ideological and Political Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, ChinaMood and optimism have been demonstrated to influence risk-taking decisions; however, the literature on mood, optimism, and decision-making is mixed and conducted primarily with western samples. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the impact of mood and dispositional optimism on risk-taking and whether these associations differed between undergraduate students from the United States (N = 141) and the People’s Republic of China (N = 90). Both samples completed a dispositional optimism questionnaire and an autobiographical mood induction task. They were then tasked with choosing to complete the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices reasoning task on easy, medium, or hard difficulty for hypothetical money. Selecting harder difficulties was interpreted as more risk-taking due to a higher chance of failure. More positive mood and higher dispositional optimism were associated with decreased risk-taking, i.e., selecting easier puzzle difficulties, in the American sample but increased risk-taking decisions, i.e., selecting harder difficulties, in the Chinese sample (p < 0.05 for all). These findings suggest that the effect of mood and optimism on decision-making may differ by nationality and/or culture.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.781609/fullmoodoptimismriskdecision-makingculturalnational |
| spellingShingle | Jiao Wang Jiao Wang Ruifeng Cui Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino Edmund Fantino Xiaoming Liu Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students Frontiers in Psychology mood optimism risk decision-making cultural national |
| title | Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students |
| title_full | Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students |
| title_fullStr | Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students |
| title_short | Differences in Mood, Optimism, and Risk-Taking Behavior Between American and Chinese College Students |
| title_sort | differences in mood optimism and risk taking behavior between american and chinese college students |
| topic | mood optimism risk decision-making cultural national |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.781609/full |
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